Lisa Larrimore Ouellette

Professor Lisa Larrimore Ouellette joined the Stanford Law faculty in 2014. Her scholarship addresses empirical and theoretical problems in intellectual property and innovation law. She takes advantage of her training in physics to explore policy issues such as how scientists use the technical information in patents, how scientific expertise might improve patent examination, the patenting of publicly funded research under the Bayh–Dole Act, and the integration of IP with other levers of innovation policy. She has applied these ideas to biomedical innovation challenges including the opioid epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also written about multiple legal issues in trademark law, about the evidentiary value of online surveys, and about the potential for different standards of review to create what she terms “deference mistakes” in numerous areas of law. She has authored over 350 posts for her blog, Written Description, and her commentary has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, and Slate. In 2018, she received the law school’s John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Focal Areas: Health, Innovation and Technology